The Amazing Chan Adventures: Episode 1
by Known Unknown
Summary: The Adventure Begins Again:    Nearly five years after the defeat of the Shendu and Drago, the Chan clan finds themselves embroiled in another globetrotting adventure… beginning with a deadly disaster in Mexico.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures. I just had an idea… one I hope you'll enjoy. Signed, Known Unknown.  
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_**Synopsis: Five years after the defeat of the Shendu and Drago, the Chan clan finds themselves embroiled in another globetrotting adventure… beginning with a deadly disaster in Mexico.**_

**The Adventure Begins Again  
>By: Known Unknown<br>**

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><p>To most people, flying to another country on a private jet might seem fascinating, and doing so for the express purpose of exploring a centuries old lost temple might hit extraordinary, but that sort of thing is pretty commonplace for archaeologist Jackie Chan. Well, all of it except the private jet bit, but sometimes when duty calls, it calls with incentive. It was a little odd actually: an ancient Mayan temple is discovered in the depths of Mexico, and the first he hears of it isn't from a museum looking to investigate or even some greedy collector looking to enhance his own hoard of antiques, but a private corporation who was apparently interested for the sake of charity. Granted, in the years following his, in his own words, "modest involvement" in saving the world from demons his name had become an even bigger name in the archaeology world than he already was, but he was used to be being approached by stuffy curators or mild mannered researchers, not men in black business suits with suitcases full of cash.<p>

Jackie couldn't wrap his head around that one, but at the moment he didn't really care: one thing he had come to love about planes over the years was how relaxing flying so far above the ground was - at least when he wasn't holding onto the plane by a thread or walking on the outside. With nothing but his seat, the hum of the engines, and the wide expanse outside his window there was only peace, quiet and tranquility…

"Uncle Jackieee!"

Well, almost.

"Yes, Jade?" he asked his restless niece, who was now busy fidgeting irritably in her seat. Jackie tried not to laugh: five years hadn't changed her much, and it was times like this that she looked just like rambunctious, high-spirited girl who showed up on his Uncle's doorstep all that time ago.

"When are we going to get there? This trip has been going on forever, and these seats are murder! I don't know how you can stand it!"

Jackie smiled serenely and laid back in his seat. "Patience, Jade."

"Patience? Tch. Back when we were hunting talismans we snagged local flights that were faster than this – not to mention more comfortable! And stop smirking at me like that, it's not funny."

He did not, as it turns out, stop smirking. "You didn't have to come along," he said with a chuckle. Jade crossed her arms and pouted. "You could always have stayed home with Uncle, Tohru, and Jimmy."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and be the guinea pig for their 'forays into the latent depths of chi,'" she said, waving her hands like a mock-wizard, "no thanks!" Jackie seemed to remember that most of her mishaps with chi magic were due to her own reckless experiments, but chose not to comment. "Plus, there's no way I was going to leave you in the lurch while you explore some mystic Aztec ruin. Haven't you ever seen the movies? There's always some deadly curse just waiting to strike." She gnashed her teeth and hissed like a snake for added effect.

"Mayan, not Aztec," he corrected. "And you watch too much tv. Real life isn't like adventure movies." Jade raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe ours is… sometimes… but usually it's not-" Her facial expression didn't change. She had a point – even after Shendu and Drago's defeat the Chan's still ran into strange and mystical occurrences on a constant basis, and Jade had been there for all of them. Jackie frowned, he had hoped to show Jade his work didn't make him into some kind of action hero, and yet… "_Anyways,_" he backpedaled, "Mr. Gao assured me this is just a new find: no tricks, barely any traps. It should be simple. You don't always have to back me up."

"Tch, yeah right. What would you do without me?" Jade smiled – a real smile, no sarcasm behind it. Jackie returned it: over the years the Chan family had become an amazing team, that's for sure. She lowered her voice for the next part so as to not be overheard by the crew, "Plus, something seems very off about this. Call it a hunch, but why isn't the team Gao sent to find the temple going in to explore it? No way, he's not telling us something," her whispered turned slightly angry, "the least he could do is give us the full picture, since he's not paying us."

Jackie blanched. He had neglected to tell Jade that Mr. Gao had, in fact, initially offered him an obscene sum of money for his help, which he naturally refused: he wasn't in this for the money. "Heh heh… yeah…" he replied weakly.

Jade's eyes narrowed. "_Uncle Jackie…" _she said warningly. Luckily, Jackie was saved by one of the flight crew finally coming into the cabin from the cockpit.

"Mr. Chan," he said tonelessly, "we have reached Pichacualo. Thank you for your patience. We are landing shortly."

"No, thank you," Jackie said graciously as Jade picked up everything she had lying around.

He crewmember nodded his head and drifted out of the cabin. "All this trouble for little old me," Jackie said to himself with a chuckle. He looked out the window, seeing a beautiful countryside bordered on one side by plains and the other by dense forested jungle – or perhaps with a jungle-like forest? Ecosystems had never been his strong suit. Unlike this serene sight, however, the flight started to get shaky: it was a small town without an airport, but apparently Mr. Gao had told the crew to land wherever they could find relatively even ground. Jackie held onto his armrests as the plane made a very bumpy landing, while Jade scowled as a particularly bad jump made her spill all her freshly packed knick-knacks on the floor. But after several minutes of near whiplash, finally it was over. The Chans shakily collected their things (Jade from all over the cabin floor) and exited the plane – Jackie made sure to thank the crew again for their assistance, while Jade gave them and their smug faces a very dirty look.

"Well Jade, here we are in Mexico!" Jackie said cheerily, spreading out his arms as if embracing the sweltering environment. Jade grunted in response – the jostling flight hadn't exactly been easy on her senses. Under the red afternoon sun, the two made their way through the streets of the town greeting the townsfolk and taking in the colorful sights of the marketplace, while on their way to an inn that looked surprisingly nice for a town so small.

"We'll drop off our things at the hotel first," he continued as they walked up the hotel, "they we can see the sights for a while before I go to the r-" He was suddenly interrupted by a rough hand grabbing him on the shoulder from behind.

"I don't think so, Mr. Chan," said a low voice. "Hold it right there…"

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>And so begins my first published fic and what hopes to be a looooong series. To those whose interest I've piqued, hope I manage to keep it.

**Addendum: **Was shorter than I realized. Worry not, it'll get better.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: While You May Not Know Who Or What The Known Unknown Is, Rest Assured He Does Not Own JCA**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Jackie wrenched his shoulder from the vice grip with a snap and all at once the two Chans both whirled around, ready for a fight, only to see to their shock…

"Senor Jackie!" said El Toro Fuerte with a massive grin, his other hand on the shoulder of his older but still boyishly small ward, Paco. "How could you visit our fair country and not tell us you were coming?"

"Hola Yade," Paco greeted with a smile mirroring his mentor, "How was your flight?"

"Fine…" she groaned, "And it's _J_ade! I swear you're still doing that on purpose."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not," Paco smirked, "It is funny either way. Much like that kooky landing we saw from the town square. One would think the pilot didn't know anything about flight safety."

Jade gave him an annoyed glare – years of friendship had given them a very interesting dynamic.

"YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK," Jackie interrupted, finally able to breathe over the shock.

"Sorry," El Toro said quickly, "but I needed to get your attention."

"Why are you guys here anyway?" Jade asked as Jackie struggled to slow his breath.

"The same reason as you, I believe," El Toro said grimly.

"The lost temple?" Jackie gasped.

"Si," he continued, "We were told of a terrible power coming from these ruins. We had a hunch it meant something… sinister."

"So naturally we came to investigate," Paco finished brightly, "And the stories were true. Look!" The Chans followed his finger to a spot miles into the forest, where a bright, ethereal light was shining brightly in the coming sunset. At first, it might have looked like the glare from a camera or a overly bright sparkler, but it continued to glow, and even as they watched it it seemed to grow slightly.

They gaped in shock for a long while, for things had just gotten a lot more interesting. Jade recovered first: "Told ya," see said, nudging her uncle in the ribs.

"Yes… well, you must take me to see the ruins immediately!" Jackie said seriously, shrugging off his surprise as best he could.

"Naturally," the luchador replied, "Let us just drop off your things and get on our way. There is no time for dilly dally."

"We're right behind you Jackie!" Jade cheered excitedly, primed and ready for another adventure. Paco and El Toro gave her shared a skeptical look as Jade obliviously punched and kicked the air in preparation for all the mystic monsters she was already planning to fight. Jackie, on the other hand, looked at her blankly thinking it over for a moment, but then regarded her seriously.

"No Jade, you and Paco stay at the hotel, where it's safe."

"Aww, really?" she said incredulously, "I thought we were a team?"

"Usually… yes," Jackie said evenly, "but we have no idea what could be up there: I would rather you stay out of danger until we know what's going on."

"Hmph. Fine," she pouted and crossed her arms again. She could see his point – she knew he only wanted her safe, but that didn't mean was happy about it. Sighing, she trudged along behind her uncle while he and El Toro quickly made plans for getting into the jungle.

Joining her at the rear of the party, Paco gave her a wry look. "Do not tell me you're surprised?"

"Shut up, you."

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><p>By the time Jackie and El Toro had gotten ready to leave the sun was already nearly set. They were not able to find anyone willing to guide them through or even lend them a llama in the middle of the night, especially to a possibly dangerous glowing ruin (not that Jackie could blame them), so naturally they were hiking on their own with only the stars, their lanterns, and the bright spire of energy from their destination to light their way, only what little they carried with them for provisions, and only their fists to protect them from whatever dangers they might encounter.<p>

So business as usual, really. There wasn't much ado at all: after they dropped Paco and Jade off at the hotel they took their usual provisions and set off immediately – no time to lose. In fact, they were so used to this sort of thing that they quickly fell into casual conversation despite what could be a perilous journey through the underbrush.

"So El Toro, how are things going with you?" It had been a few months since the two friends had had contact, let alone seen each other – though Jackie was sure Jade and Paco caught up a lot more often thanks to the internet.

"Oh, you know. Travelling the country. Facing challengers. Righting wrongs. Same old thing," he grinned. "Wouldn't change it, mi amigo."

"I don't know, I think I could do without all the danger and intrigue," Jackie replied wearily, thinking of what lied ahead.

El Toro laughed. "Speaking of which, I ran into Viper a couple months ago. Helped me get a priceless gem back from some fiendish banditos. She wanted me to ask you why you haven't called?"

"Did she..?" Jackie gulped. It was bad enough Jade kept pestering about her every time the ex-thief sent her an email (there was a reason he avoided using the internet for anything but business), now he he was getting double teamed all the way here in Mexico! "Aheh… well… er… I mean… _So!_" he quickly changed the subject, "I hear Paco has been winning a few matches himself! You must be so proud." He gulped again, hoping El Toro didn't push the Viper issue.

El Toro chuckled but took the hint, "Yes, _mi Pachito_. He has the makings a real luchador… if only he would get out of his own head, you know? He tries too hard to prove himself."

Jackie smiled, but sighed, "yes, I know. Jade's gotten a lot wiser and more disciplined, but she's still so headstrong. You just can't teach that girl self-control. It's funny, seems like only yesterday these kids were knee high. Now they're growing up. Pretty soon we won't be able to keep up."

The two shared a laugh, before El Toro spoke up: "speaking of which, you must know Jade and Paco have probably flown the coop by now, so to speak."

Jackie's laugh died right away, "usually, yes… but she's more mature than she was… maybe I can count on Jade to stay put this time." He didn't even wait for El Toro to react. "Yes, I know… but maybe- GAH!" He dove out of the way as El Toro picked up a rock and threw it at him. Before he could question his friend on his actions, he saw the rock flying past him to knock a lurking jaguar off it's treetop perch, where it had been leering hungrily at him. Jackie shakily spat the dirt out of his mouth as the jaguar ran with it's tail between it's legs. "You could have warned me!"

"Sorry."

"Anyway, maybe Paco can keep her from doing anything too crazy, and plus, they wouldn't even think to go into the jungle on their own… right?" Jackie sounded hopeful, like someone who desperately wanted to believe he hadn't left the oven on before he left town.

"Perhaps," El Toro said vaguely, not really believing it.

_Meanwhile:_

At that very moment, Jade and Paco were lounging restlessly in their room in the inn, in a manner of speaking. Paco had long given up trying to relax, not when Jade was too busy ranting to get any rest in.

"I can't believe this!" she shouted, shutting her useless laptop with a thud, "No bars at all! I can't get on my phone _or_ the net! Why did I even bring this thing?" She grabbed her laptop and jammed it back into her bag as angrily as she could, then continued to steam around the room pointing out random inconveniences.

Paco blankly watched her rave as though she was the most interesting thing around, which to be fair she probably was, given that the tv was out thanks to some odd interference – no need to guess what that was. Not bothering to comment (she would likely get to anything he might add eventually), he grinned (resisting the urge to laugh like his life depended on it) and munched on a bag of chips as she got more and more animated.

"I mean, no TV, no phone, no computer…"

"You still have your computer games," he noted, not expecting to be heard. Predictably, she ignored him.

"I'm going stir crazy in here! What's next, no AC?"

The hum of the air conditioner sputtered and died as fate answered the call with gusto. There was a brief silence as the two teens stared at it.

"Alright, time for something else," she said abruptly, getting that familiar glimmer in her eye.

Paco sighed and walked over to the fully stocked closet, "don't tell me you're thinking what I think you're thinking."

"Jackie and El Toro need us!" she scoffed, "don't tell _me_ you'd leave your mentor in the lurch like that!"

"They told us to stay where it is safe," he said mildly, testing the various sheets and blankets for strength.

"Come on, when has us staying behind ever worked out?" She looked out the window thoughtfully, then started looking around the room for something.

Paco briefly looked up from the sheet he was working with, "Well…"

"Don't answer that. All I'm saying is they're going to need our help! Plus, if that temple lets loose armies of undead manhunters or something, wouldn't the safest place be with them? Aha!" she shouted as she found what she was looking for.

Paco rolled his eyes as he tied the various sheets together, "I bet that actually makes sense to you, too."

"Darn tootin'! You gotta think of these sort of things when you live with Uncle Jackie," she smiled, "Bring me a few… oh-" she turned to ask, but faltered for a moment when she saw him already standing there with a long chain of sheets.

"I don't think this is a good idea," he said, handeding her one end of the makeshift rope, which she affixed to a surprisingly sturdy wall fixture, "I suppose we're going to get through the jungle to the temple on our own, then?"

"Why must you always worry? Don't answer that," she said with what Paco was sure was six times the confidence of a normal person, "We'll take care of it like we always do!" She tied the other end of the rope into a lasso and tossed onto a tree several yards from the hotel. "You coming or what?"

Paco acted like he was deep in thought. "I guess. Someone has to keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Tch, yeah right. GERONIMO!" with a shout she took the line and slid down the rope into the wild blue yonder.

"Yeah, yeah. Ay…" Paco smiled resignedly and followed behind her. There are a few things things you get used to when you're friends with Jade Chan.

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><p><strong>Author: When I have ideas for stories, I often find they kind of arise from ideas for a single scene, and then kind of grow from there. And this is what I mean: you might say this whole series arose from that last scene with Paco and Jade, and then I just thought of more stuff.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Known Unknown, he does not own / the Jackie Chan Adventures** / **And nonetheless he does express / This rhyme that you must endure.**

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

"How do you stand all this heat?" Jade panted, wiping her forehead with her sleeve and goggling at the fact that Paco seemed perfectly fine waltzing through the jungle wearing slacks and a jacket (a thin jacket, but still), while she was boiling in shorts and a t-shirt. "I mean, it's nighttime and if anything it's even hotter than it was this afternoon!"

"I am used to it, Yade. If you wanted cold nights, you might have liked the desert," Paco shrugged, then after a moment he grinned slyly at her, "but, if you cannot handle it…"

"Hey!" she steamed, poking him in his ribs, "I can handle anything you can, mouseboy!"

"Hmph. You should know while my small size doesn't give me the strength of the great El Toro Fuerte, my agility more than makes up for it. And no, you can't."

"Can so."

"Can not."

"Can so."

"Can not."

"Can s-" Jade stopped mid jibe and slapped a hand to her forehead, "are we really doing this?"

Paco smirked smugly and walked ahead of her, "I don't know why. I was just saying: it is alright if you can't handle the harsh Mexican environment." Jade growled, but Paco ignored her. "It happens to a lot of people. I'll be happy to take the lead and guide you- AAAIIIEE!" Too caught up in his swagger, he misstepped and tripped over a massive hole in the ground, hidden in the darkness. Thinking quickly, Jade dove forward and grabbed his hand as he pitched over, stopping him from falling into whatever was down there.

She smirked down at him as he hung over the edge. "You were saying?"

"Do not say a word…"

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><p>As the two adventurers got ever closer to the lost temple, the eerie light it radiated became so bright it lightened up the sky, and casual conversation stopped cutting it when it came to distractions. The last legs of their journey things were mostly silent, as they stared ahead even eyed with the unearthly glow as their guide. Not even the dangers of the jungle could get their full attention, they just kept walking… until…<p>

"We believe we have arrived, hombre," El Toro announced breathlessly.

"Yes… I think you are right," Jackie agreed as he gaped up at the enormous temple. It was unlike most of the temples he Jackie Chan had seen in his day: there was little branching architecture, no plazas or sacrificial towers – it was one tower, vast and grayish brown, like an great faded stone. Carved and sculpted out of the stone were faces: not faces of animals or deities like he would have expected, no, but peaceful sleeping faces lining the exterior in rows. But the part that grabbed their attention the most was the top: where the ethereal glow was pouring out from a hole into a high spire… and getting higher and brighter every minute.

From the moment they saw the temple in it's full glory to the moment they were at it's threshold, everything seemed like a daze – not a spell, but near overwhelmed by the sheer majesty of it – they didn't even notice there was an entrance until they stumbled over it, but just in looking at it was clear it was odd to have missed it: there was only one titanic door, and much to Jackie's nervousness it was wide open. Light was pouring out of it as well. Very unsettlingly, there was no trace of any plants or animals growing anywhere near the temple, especially in the front where the light was pouring out… everything had cast back in fear.

"Are you ready, my friend?" El Toro said, trying not to let his own anxiousness show. Jackie nodded determinedly, but the two hadn't taken one step when the faces lining the temple suddenly shot open, light glowing from their eyes and mouths. The two fearless heroes gave a shout and leapt back as the faces turned their eyes to the intruders. A few tense seconds passed as the faces did nothing but stare, before their light faded and ancient writing began to burn into the stone around the door. Writing in no language they knew or even heard of.

"What?" El Toro exclaimed, "what does it say, mi amigo?"

Jackie had no clue. But he had an idea about someone who might. "I need to make a call."

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><p>Meanwhile, a far ways behind their guardians the two teens had made good time and reached a ridge overlooking the temple, and they too couldn't believe their eyes with what they saw. Well, at least one of them couldn't.<p>

"It is… amazing!" Paco said in wonder as he gazed at the glowing ruin.

"Come on Paco, we've seen a lot crazier stuff than this," Jade said absently, more concerned with scanning the area for signs of her Uncle. "Hey! I think I see them!"

"Really, where? Hey!" he shouted, "where did you get binoculars from?"

"Never leave home without 'em. Now let's see… they're walking towards the door, and- whoa!" Neither of them needed binoculars to see the ominous faces light up on temple's walls, nor to see the glow concentrate around the door, though at their distance they couldn't make out the words that surrounded it.

"Oh, I do not like this."

"Me neither," Jade replied. This had 'danger' written all over it. "Now… ok, Uncle Jackie's looking at the light around the door, but I can't see what he's doing…"

"Let me see!"

"Wait your turn! Uncle Jackie looks stumped: he's calling someone. Why does his phone get reception while I'm stuck in the dark ages?"

"Who is he calling?"

"How should I know? It's not like I can hear – oh, wait, he's holding the phone like a foot away from his ear. Gotta be Uncle."

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><p>"<em>Jaaackieee!<em>" the nephew in question winced, while El Toro off to the side pondered whether it would be worth the disrespect to hold his ears, "Why do you always call Uncle when he is eating? I was just sitting down to a nice mung bean soup. You could at least-"

"No time, Uncle! I need you to take a look at something for me. I'll send them to your computer."

He turned his special all-purpose Section 13 phone onto the door and snapped a few picture; given to him by Captain Black as a birthday present, it could make calls pretty much anywhere, could be used as a pixel perfect GPS, and had a state of the art video camera all in a handy pocket size package. There was no doubt it could get the images through clearly.

"Did you get them Uncle?" The old man did not answer right away. "Uncle? Are you still there?"

"Jackie…" the voice came back shocked and quiet, "these are the most ancient of chi symbols. Where did you find these?"

"At a temple in the middle of Mexico. We need a translation, Uncle!"

"These are of the oldest roots of chi magic… even throughout the world in these modern times, magic is tied by these ancient tenets. My knowledge is imprecise, but I shall try."

"Please do, Uncle."

"Let us see… there are symbols about 'honor,' and 'perseverance,' and it speaks of a 'test.'"

"We are to be tested?" El Toro interjected. Jackie nodded uncertainly.

"It would appear so…"

"Or perhaps you already have," Uncle replied, "the only part I can adequate translate bodes not well."

Jackie gulped. "Don't sugar coat it Uncle."

The elderly wizard sighed on the other end of the line. "It says 'there is no light. The sight long gone. The good has fallen. It's light will punish, and it's gem will persevere.' Translating more will take time, but…"

Both men paled, "maybe you should have sugar coated it…"

"_Jaaackieee_!" they both jumped as Uncle shouted again, "this is powerful magic! Do not take this lightly. I will make preparations to leave if I must, but it may be too late. You must do something now."

"The warning spoke of a gem. Perhaps that is the key to stopping this!" El Toro offered hopefully.

"It is our best shot," Jackie said determinedly. "Let's go."

"_One more thing," _Uncle shouted. Jackie jumped, "Be careful. For reasons unknown this magic seeks worth. It will test you – you must be ready."

"We will, Uncle."

"_One mooore thing._ The light seems to be driving back the nature surrounding it… you must hurry. If you fail it may spread to all of Mexico, destroying it, then move on to the rest of the world. It wishes to test you, so the light may not harm you… until you fail."

El Toro looked more worried than ever, Jackie wasn't doing much better but nodded at him all the same, "yes, I-"

"_One moooooore thing!" _Jackie jumped again, then groaned in annoyance. "Bring back some tablets and pictures from inside. Would make nice souvenirs."

Jackie almost laughed. "Thanks, Uncle. We won't fail. See you soon." He put the phone away and turned to El Toro. "There's no time to lose." Without further ado they steeled themselves and ran into the temple doors… not noticing some of the faces on the temple walls had returned, and were sporting some very nasty smiles as they leered down at the two heroes.

Jade and Paco, however, did notice the ominous sign from their vantage point, and they weren't very happy about what it might mean, nor that their guardians were walking right into what must definitely be some kind of trap.

"What are they doing?" Jade yelled. In a single motion, she leaped off the ridge onto a tall tree sprouting from the ground below, grabbed onto where it's trunk reached their height, and without missing a beat slid down the trunk to ground level, Paco right behind her. "Haven't they seen the movies? This is when the curse always strikes! If Uncle Jackie gets out of this I'm tying him down and making him watch more television."

"No times for jokes, Yade… we must hurry!" Paco replied, channeling his fear into his running.

With speed born of desperation, the two sprinted through the dense, hilly jungle leading up to the temple in a matter of minutes, and the moment they got within earshot they wasted no time in calling out to warn them. "Uncle Jackie!" "El Toro!"

Just inside the temple, Jackie turned, as thought heard something. Something that shouldn't be there. "That sounded like… oh no." The two adventurers shared a startled look and without a word tore back to the entrance. But it was as if the temple sensed there were more players entering it's game without it's permission, as the great stone door began to slide closed – too slowly to notice at first, then all at once. The two Chan's had only enough moments to glimpse each other before the door dropped to the ground, blocking off all contact with a menacing thud.

Cut off from each other and a long way from any help, the two Chans on either side of the door shared the same thought: "Oh… bad day…"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: As you know, I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures.**

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

Jade Chan could do a lot of things. She could do confident. She could do terrified. She could do brilliant and she could do dumb. In the face of great adversity (or just the threat of extra chores) she could do defiant. In the face of great danger she could do distress or control, depending on what kind of danger it was. In fact, she was doing a bit of all of that all at once right now. But if there's one thing she can't do, it's give up. And she wasn't about to start now, no matter how scared she was.

But first, a mild moment of panic:

"Omigod… they're trapped!" she spoke quickly, pulling at the sides of her hair as she grew more and more animated, "oh man, this is bad. This is so, _so_ bad!"

"What are we going to do?" Paco said, not much better off himself. In fact, the only he wasn't full scale pulling his hair out was because Jade had beaten him to it. "There is no way in now! We must think of something!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jade sighed, calming down as she thought the situation over. "Ok… we there's got to be another way in – these old creepy temples always have some kind of service entrance." She left the entrance and started looking around the walls for some kind of clue.

Paco, meanwhile, inspected the door. "Perhaps this door is not as strong as it looks… I'll bet it would crumble at the fist of the great El Toro. Perhaps I can try - it is worth a shot." He took a few steps backward, then launched himself fist first at the door with a mighty war cry, striking the door with all the force he could muster. For a few seconds, nothing happened at all, and then… "I was wrong…"

Jade continued to search around the back of the temple, oblivious to Paco in the front running around clutching his hand and shouting in pain. As she looked around at the designs running across the temple, she noticed that the faces they saw leering at her uncle had returned to normal: all peaceful, pensive, and creepy enough exactly the same: it was enough to give her the willies.

Not letting that psyche her out, she stared at the rows of identical faces looking for something out of place… and then she saw it: on the far side of the wall, near ground level, a there was a face unlike the others. While the rest of them were closed and expressionless, this one had eyes and mouth wide open, as though it was shouting. She had gone on enough adventures to know a secret when she saw it. Without hesitation she ran over and felt around for some kind of switch or lever – not that she needed to: the moment she touched it the face glowed and slid aside, revealing a small but enterable tunnel.

"Paco!" she yelled at her companion, who took a break from a creative string of Spanish curses to listen, "I think I found a side entrance! Come on!" Within moments the boy was turning the corner suspiciously red faced and grinning sheepishly.

"Wonderful!" he said a little too cheerfully, "Now we can help El Toro and Jackie! I'll just go in first…"

As he quickly passed Jade noticed he was hiding one of his fists behind his back, "Dude, what happened to your hand?" she asked, seeing that the fist was very red.

"Nothing!" he said quickly, blushing even more. "Don't ask, let's just go!" He practically dove into the tunnel without looking back. "Are you coming?" Jade smirked and resisted the urge to laugh, making a mental note to bring it up later as she followed him into the unknown.

* * *

><p>"Senor Jackie," El Toro asked shortly as the other two adventurers made their way through a dimly lit corridor, "why are we not trying to find a way out the way we came? The children may need our help!"<p>

"Sorry, El Toro, but something tells me it wouldn't be worth the effort. That door is far too big for us to move, and there was no other way out where we were. No, I don't like it but the best way to get back to Jade and Paco is to continue on through the temple."

El Toro grunted, accepting the truth but still not happy about the situation, and the surroundings didn't help: as the two followed the ethereal glow through the wide, foreboding passageways in silence there was little to distract them from the danger they were all in: just like the outside, everything on the inside of the temple was blank and uniform, even the designs on the walls. Obviously, whoever built this temple was not going for extravagance.

Oddly enough, the lack of _anything_ at all to distract him made Jackie even more nervous, and more than a little paranoid. He was on the verge of starting a conversation about something, anything, just to cut the tension when suddenly he tripped over a bundle on the ground and toppled onto the floor.

"What the," he whispered, checking the pile with hope that it wouldn't explode or something. It appeared to be some sort of uniform – a work suit, trousers, shoes, etc, and a few feet away he spotted a small hammer, a chisel, and some assorted trinkets. As he looked around he saw even more sets of uniforms and tools were strewn around, everything either frayed, charred, chipped or torn. On the suit in his hands Jackie noticed a small nameplate: "Doctor Allen Burns… I have heard that name before! He was the man in charge of Mr. Bao's dig team!" He added to himself, "Jade was right…"

El Toro paled. "These are… the remains of your Senor Bao's crew?"

"They were not worthy…" Jackie replied grimly. With respect, he laid the uniform on the ground, nodded his head, and motioned for them to continue on.

Somehow, the confirmation of what might happen to him and his friends should they fail increased his determination as much as it scared him.

"Is there any sign of what happened to them?" El Toro questioned.

"No… that's what worries me."

"Well, we should- LOOK OUT!" El Toro suddenly shouted, turning around in shock, though Jackie did not notice.

"Well, yes. We should definitely- BWAH?" El Toro forcefully turned him around and he saw the source of his friend's panic. Shooting out from holes in the walls were ropes, netting themselves across the corridor and coming towards them. "RUN!"

El Toro didn't need to be told twice. They took off as fast as their legs could take them, desperately trying to keep the net behind them – Jackie looked back and saw the ropes twisting and turning around the discarded clothes they left behind. This was not reassuring. _Baddaybaddaybadday-ouch! _Jackie yelped as a rope right behind him made a particularly close call on his backside – but there was no time to react. He had to keep running, or he'd get worse than rope burns on his behind.

"Keep at it, amigo!" El Toro yelled from a couple paces in front of him – he must have heard him get hit. "This hall must end eventually!"

At least there was a silver lining. A trap hopefully meant they were on the right path. "Yes, but it is what is behind us that I am worried about…"

"Do not worry!" El Toro replied, "I see something ahead! It must…. be… no…" He suddenly slowed to a stop.

"El Toro? What…?" Jackie sidestepped so he would hit him, but then he looked ahead and realized what caused his friend to freeze in fear. Another set of ropes, shooting out the walls, advancing towards them from the hall in front. There was no way out.

"NO!" His eyes darted back and forth trying to find some way of escape, but it was no use – in seconds he and El Toro were caught by dozens of creeping binds. "Let go of me!" he cried, thrashing violently as the ropes wrapped around his arms and legs and pulled him back, but the more they fought the more shot out of the walls, threatening to tie them up completely. Before long there he was almost too tied to even move. With difficulty he turned his head and grimaced, seeing El Toro wasn't doing much better – things were looking very bad.

It was at this point that most people would give up – but Jackie wasn't most people: he thought about Jade, Paco, and all the people who would suffer if he didn't succeed, and with all of their safety on the line he wasn't about to let himself be turned into a human cocoon. He caught his second wind, so to speak and, almost as if his dedication gave him the strength he needed, the ropes started to feel a bit less strong. It was still one of the hardest things he ever had to do, but it all of a sudden felt a bit easier.

They gave a tiny bit, and Jackie took that opportunity to push as hard as he could. More, more, a bit more… he couldn't give up. He wouldn't give up. Suddenly, one rope snapped, then another, and another, and before long he was almost walking along, breaking rope after rope even as others tried to replace them.

El Toro saw his friend's success and grinned, and using every ounce of strength he had he pushed to join him. Soon, the two were making their way through the rope trap at a slow but steady pace.

Jackie chuckled, "well, nobody can ever say we let ourselves get 'tied up' in our work!" El Toro laughed with him, even though they were still in danger: they were making their way through, but it was still difficult and there was no end in sight. Then, suddenly, Jackie slipped and was jerked back into the air. "GAH! HELP!"

Without thinking, El Toro leaped to grab him, snagging a few of the ropes still trying to bind him in the process, and helped him get his bearings, but the damage was done: the trap had an even stronger grip on them both. It took all they could muster not to slip backwards again.

Now thinks looked at their worst. They were making almost no headway. The two tried to keep going anyways, but the ropes seemed twice as strong and things were looking extra grim. It looked like it was almost over…

"No! We can't be stuck here like this," Jackie yelled to El Toro, who nodded, "At the count of three we have to push as hard as we can! Or else…" He trailed off – he didn't want to think about the "or elses" right now.

"Si, my friend," El Toro replied, determination written all over his face, "on your count…"

_Ooh, this is going to hurt in the morning… _"Alright. Three… two… one… GO!"

And at the same instant two things happened at once. First, the two rushed forward as much as they could – and miraculously managed to break several of the ropes, enough that they could move again. Second, the wall to the left of them suddenly cracked and opened, revealing a secret passageway. The two adventurers could hardly believe it: escape, was right in front of them! Granted, they had no idea where the passage led, but given the circumstances…

"This way!" Jackie yelled – wherever the corridor led couldn't be worse than there they were: they booked it as fast as they could go through the trap and to the side of the hall, untangling themselves from the trap and diving into the side-hallway.

The hidden door shut behind them leaving the rope trap hanging as it was, ominously netting the whole hallway from end to end.

* * *

><p>Paco had no idea how long they had been crawling through this tunnel without any kind of light (it seemed like around 20 minutes, but who could tell?), but it was starting to get a little tedious. Particularly since he could practically <em>hear<em> Jade grinning her head off behind him at the idea of adventure. If she mumbled "whoa" or "awesome" one more time- oh that's it…

"Why must you always enjoy this sort of thing?" he asked wearily.

"Are you kidding? This is just like Indiana Jones: we're braving the depths of a mysterious ruin, trying to rescue the trapped explorers. It's way cool."

"Yes, and I'm sure when we find some dark artifact that melts our faces off, it'll be all that much cooler."

Jade snorted. "Oh, don't be so negative, mouseboy." Luckily, she couldn't see him scowl back at her, because if looks could kill…

"Can't you once focus on the danger we're in right now? Honestly," he rolled his eyes, "one would think you hadn't done this kind of thing a million times."

"Please. You know very well the only reason you're not excited right now is because you're even less patient than I am and this whole tunnel thing is starting to get old," she ignored his affronted hiss, "and just relax. You worry way to mu-UUUUUUUUUCH!" She screamed as the floor under her suddenly gave way, sending her falling into the darkness.

"Yade? YADE!" Paco yelled as he heard his friend fall behind him. He struggled to turn himself around and try to grab her before it was too late, but the tunnel was too narrow for that. He needn't have bothered, however, for a second later the ground under him fell away as well, dropping him spiraling down after her.

He still couldn't see a thing, but he knew they were falling some distance – first they were dropping, then suddenly they landed on a kind of slanted surface and slid the rest of the way. He supposed it was a good thing he couldn't see, because the trip down that slippery slope took twists and turns and at one point might have done a loop the loop, he wasn't certain, and the last thing he needed was to be completely nauseous as well as dizzy and disoriented (though if you asked him later, he would tell you he was not bothered at all, and in fact all those screams anyone might have heard were actually the temple trying in vain to scare them). Meanwhile, to his great irritation, Jade had gone past panicking and was clearly enjoying herself, if her "woo-hooing."

"Yade!" he yelled again, this time more angry than fearful, "I swear, if we die here – _te prometo –_ I'm going to kill you!" Jade was, naturally, cheering too hard to hear him. He scowled, grunted and crossed him arms waiting for this wild ride to end.

And, suddenly, it did. The sliding just stopped, and with no warning whatsoever the two were dumped from a ceiling into an enormous room, falling fast enough to seriously hurt themselves on the sudden stop. Jade fell in first, and looking around quickly she spotted a large thread of ivy hanging on a wall close to the hole they fell through.

"Quick, grab the vines!" she shouted as Paco dropped after her and she quickly directed herself over to the ivy - grabbing on like her life depended on it - which, of course, it did. Paco, not wanting to knock her off, fell ahead of her and grabbed the vine a few seconds after - and one after the other they slid down the makeshift rope to the ground, landing ruffled but mostly unharmed in a big heap with a collective "oof!"

"Whew!" Jade said as she shook off her dizziness, looking around her with a mix of impressed relief and nervousness, "That was some ride, huh? Whoever built this place must've been a real nutcase."

"Yes, yes, it was something else all right," Paco murmured from the floor, "now would you please get off of me?"

Jade gasped – half amused, half embarrassed – she had accidentally landed directly on top of him. "Oops! Sorry…" she jumped off him and helped him up, grinning apologetically as he dusted himself off. He groaned briefly but didn't comment on it. Or if he had wanted to he couldn't, because naturally that was when the rope burn kicked in. "Ow, ow, ow..." the two chorus for the next few minutes as they danced around wincing and waving their arms.

After the sting faded away they finally tried to get their bearings. "So, where are we, anyways?" Paco asked, looking up from his still red hands.

For the first the two looked around at their surroundings. They were in an enormously vast stone chamber. Here and there were blocky platforms circling the half of the room they were in – they rose in height as they approached the farthest point behind them, like a kind of stairs, but the lowest one was still much taller than they were, giving the impression from where they were standing that the chamber was wider on one end than on the other. They looked up from where they fell: the hole they had dropped through was obviously supposed to be some sort of trap, but what really interested them was the thread of ivy they had saved themselves with: they initially thought it came from the walls or a ceiling, but looking at it now they saw it came from another hole in the ceiling.

Filing that away for later, they looked back in front of them. As they walked leisurely out of the niche they had fallen in, Paco noticed right away some kind of pulley system sitting off to the side. It looped from a crank, over to a complex system of massive gears, which was connected to-

"_Chido!_ A door!" Paco cheered and ran over to the exit at the side of the chamber: a massive door spanning from floor to ceiling, even bigger than the main entrance to the temple, though at least this time they had a way to open it, "Now we can find El Toro and Jackie and escape! Come on, Yade!" Jade didn't answer. "Yade?"

Jade stood at the wall directly opposite from where they landed, looking up at something adorning the wall. "Hey, Paco…" she said softly, "come check this out." Moving to where she was, Paco looked up and gasped.

"_Madre de dios…_" he said breathlessly. Engraved and painted on the wall were inscriptions and symbols so huge he was surprised he had not noticed them right away, as Jade did. Looping nearly from wall to wall to ceiling to floor was flowing ancient writing, which naturally neither of them could read, but the paintings spoke loudly enough. The wall was filled with pictures of people doing various things, melding into each other while keeping each amazing deed distinct. Standing in the center of the design was a truly enormous figure, reaching up above him, where six stars sparkled around his head just out of reach, or perhaps he had thrown them… the detail was so intricate they could almost see the stars twinkling. It was amazing.

They were so entranced by the image that they didn't notice something shadowy and dark going on behind them. As they stared the other way, ghostly shades began to seep from the walls, the corners, the ceiling… everywhere. Silent as the grave, they began to take shape, leering down at the two teens, who remained oblivious.

"This is… amazing! Who could have done this?" Paco gasped.

"I don't know… but it's awesome," Jade replied, looking around the edges, "but this is what I'm interested in, look over there!" She pointed to the star at the farthest right, which was twinkling the brightest. Next to it, in paint that seemed brighter and fresher than the rest, there was a smaller image of a person reaching for it, while surrounded by a chains and weights and, most unnerving of all, what looked like teeth. Lots of teeth. "What do you suppose it means?"

"I don't know," Paco replied anxiously, "but I do know we should leave here before – _gasp!_" Paco turned and backed against the wall, horror etched all across his face. "Y-yy-y…"

"What's up with you?" Jade raised one of her eyebrows – a skill she put a lot of pride and effort into learning. Paco shakily pointed behind her, and she nervously turned to follow his gaze. It took all she had not to scream right away: standing behind them on the platforms, the floor, pretty much every point on the other side of the chamber, were dozens upon dozens of ferocious, wolflike creatures with mad glowing eyes and small hazy feet, staring at the two with a decidedly unfriendly glare. Jade jumped back in shock. "What the heck are those?"

Paco's reply was as grim as he was terrified, _"Cadejo…"_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: I was a bit concerned with the length of my chapters before, so now I'm trying a bit more wordy a style. Still getting into the groove of things.<br>**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: As you know, I don't own Jackie Chan Adventures  
><strong>

**Apologies for the relatively long wait.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

The vicious looking creatures leered down at them from the other side of the chamber, growling threateningly. The two cautiously took a few steps back, pressing into the wall.

"W-what did you say these things were?" Jade gulped. Paco looked even more terrified, and barely got out the words.

"C-c-cadejo. P-powerful creatures said to roam the Mexican plains, but I thought they were just s-stories!"

Jade laughed nervously, "After running into gods, vampires, and the chupacabra, I'm no sure anything's just a story anymore." Paco gave her a "not the time for jokes" look and continued on.

"They are powerful creatures that can meet travelers either for virtue… or for evil…" he stammered.

"So which are these? _Please_ tell me these are the sweet and cuddly good-guy kind!"

"I-I do not think so, Yade…" The creatures inched forward on their feet like goat's and wolflike sneers, their eyes glittering like burning coals among a pile of ashes. The ones closest to them began to lick their lips hungrily.

None of this sat well with Jade at all. "Okay," Jade said, "first thing's first, we gotta get outta here _now!_ Any ideas?"

"This does not look good…" Paco momentarily snapped out of his fear to study the situation, "there is the way we entered is all the way over there, and we'll never make it through all of them. That just leaves…" The two teens both snapped their heads up, realizing the same thing at the same time. "_THE DOOR!"_ they shouted in unison, then clapped their hands over their mouths. Nervously, they looked over to the mass of monsters, but luckily none of them took their outburst as a cue to fly into a rage.

"But the door is opened by that pulley!" Paco whispered excitedly, "it would take a while to open it, and I do _not_ think we have that kind of time."

Jade closed her eyes as she did some very quick thinking, "we have to, it's the only way outta here." The cadejo continued to watch them eerily, as if waiting for them to make a move. "Both of us pulling the lever would make it go faster, but then we'd be sitting ducks…"

"Fear not Yade!" Paco proclaimed, a lot more bravely than he felt, "If I must, I shall hold off this horde of monsters while you open the exit!"

"Please," Jade said indignantly, "I could take care of these things no problem, but you could move that door a lot faster than I could with that wrestler strength you're always bragging about." Paco looked unsure. "What, you think I can't handle it?" Her eyes flashed deviously.

"Well, I am not saying that, exactly," Paco said as stuffily as he could with his knees shaking as they were, "it's just that-"

"Well, in faces you forgot, I've got a few lessons in the art of butt-whoop under my belt too, mouseboy," Jade cut him off, "I'm sure I could handle this just as well as you could."

"But…"

"Go ahead," she said more softly, "I'll be fine, but we're not getting any safer here, if you haven't noticed!" Paco sighed, nodded, and without a word he bolted off to the crank. At the exact same instant, the cadejo pounced.

Within moments three or four of them were on the two teens at once. "Get to the door!" Jade yelled to Paco, jumping to kick the closest beast off to the side of the chamber. As she landed (and the cadejo rolled into the wall) she quickly scanned the room for anything – just her luck, there was nothing she could use as an improvised weapon, like her Uncle was often so good with. Meanwhile, the cadejo she had knocked away had been replaced, and the demonic dogs were now advancing on her a lot closer than she liked.

"N-now now…" she said sheepishly, "down doggies. Sorry I don't have a steak or anything on me…" One of them growled menacingly. Jade gulped. "Looks like you've got something better in mind…" Almost grinning at their cue, the four beasts lunged.

Thinking quickly, Jade spun out of the way as the first dog flew past her head and struck it in the midsection with her elbow, sending it reeling. Keeping her footing, she slipped her foot out of the reach of another one and stomped it on the tail. As it ran around in circles yelping, Jade got an idea: she ducked and weaved as the last two cadejo tried to jump and bite her waiting for an opening. When one jumped past she grabbed it by the tail and stood her ground. It was much, much stronger than she expected from their size, but after a lot of skidding around she managed to keep her hold long enough for it to try another tactic, which was just what she wanted. When it turned in place to go for her arms, she pulled it at just the right moment, sending it barreling off balance into its partner. They collided, and the second cadejo immediately started angrily scrapping with its clumsy cohort, leaving her safe for the moment.

"Oh yeah!" she cheered, "I'm Jade Chan, monster hunter!" She took advantage of the very brief reprieve to steal a glance at Paco, who was turning the crack very slowly. "Hey, could you hurry it up over there?" she called, "this isn't as easy as it looks!"

"This…is… very heavy…" Paco grunted, "Why don't you- YADE!" He pointed behind her, where the beasts that had recovered and a few of their friends were making another attack

Jade reentered the fray with a whirl of jumps and kicks and strikes, but she she fought off the demons noticed something strange: most of the pack still stood where they were before they struck: on the other end of the chamber, just sitting and watching. There were only about four of them attacking at any given moment – when she knocked one of them away it would be replaced by another, but they weren't attacking en masse. Even the ones she had just hit would wait for another to drop out before going back in. There wasn't a lot of time to think about it, though: even if they were being merciful for some reason, four of them was more than enough to be very dangerous.

This time, they weren't being lenient enough to give her a break. As soon as one fell back, another one took its place. "_I have to do something to get them off of me," _she thought, "_maybe… well, it's worth a shot."_ She readied herself by jumping back from the whirling twister of fangs and hooves, and when the cadejo turned to jump her at once she countered with a mighty spinning kick, knocking them all away.

"Phew…" she sighed, at least that meant a moment or two to gather her thoughts, or so she thought. Leaping through the air silently, one of them lunged at her head just outside of her vision. A second too late, she heard it snarl and turned

"EL PACO FUERTE!"

A shout rang through the room as the boy in question flew in from nowhere and drop kicked the monster out of sight. Jade sighed in relief and smiled gratefully at him. "Cutting it a little close, huh?" she said wearily.

He shrugged and held out his hand. "Tag." Jade slapped his hand with a grin and ran for the lever, while Paco turned to the monsters in front of him.

"Get ready creatures of the underworld, cause now you face m-OOF!"

While Paco rolled on the ground to avoid a vicious attack, Jade desperately tried to crank open the door. "Whoa! Paco wasn't kidding, this is heavy!" Jade groaned. The crank barely moved, even when she put all her weight behind it.

She looked over at Paco and winced. He wasn't having such a good time as she had – she was trained in karate and was a little more at ease moving and striking all at once, while he was used to wrestling strikes and grapples. There were no ropes or anything for him to use either, so while she was good at dodging and weaving and getting in lucky hits against them, Paco couldn't reliably toss around the cadejo around: grappling them with their agility and teeth would be more painful than helpful – he was resorting to running around leading them along and getting in the odd kick. And even her fighting wasn't too effective, she was still inexperienced, and even an expert like Jackie couldn't fight off so many wolflike monsters for long. If they kept this up, they would be done for.

But what was there to do? They had to keep fighting – the only other option was… well… the only possibility they had for getting out now. But it was also probably suicide. Still… "Paco!" Jade shouted, "get over here!"

"Oh no, it was just getting good," Paco quipped, nearly leaping the whole distance back to the crank, "what is it? Be quick, please." He nervously eyed the cadejo, who were spreading out and inching forward slowly.

"We're never going to get anywhere like this," Jade explained, "we're going to have to both try to get this door open as fast as possible."

Paco's eyes bulged out of his head, "Are you crazy? Never mind, stupid question. If we both just stand here we will be sitting ducks!"

"We won't be any better off it we keep at it the way we are!" Jade shot back, "or do you think we can keep getting lucky playing tag with those fangs?"

Paco turned back to the snarling faces surrounding them and thought for a second, "it seems we are doomed either way…"

"At least this way we have a shot."

"Good point, Jade," looking anxious, he stood alongside her and they grabbed the crank together. The cadejo all seized up – it was as if the chamber were a theatre and the dogs were shocked and gasping audience. For a moment, everything froze: the only sound was the rustling of the vine leaves on the other end of the chamber. The two teens eyed each other nervously.

Then suddenly the cadejo rushed. All of them.

"Quickly!" Paco shouted.

With a great heave they both pulled as hard as they could, and miraculously the door began to rise… but nowhere near fast enough. The cadejo were rushing together in a great tide of black death, and gaining fast.

"Go go go!" Jade was leaning back as far as she could, trying to put as much weight on the lever as possible.

The sea of gnashing teeth was halfway to them – now that they were all on the attack it was all too obvious how many of them there were. The ones closest to them waited patiently for their friends to catch up, grinning like rat traps.

"Come on, come on." If only the door could slide faster!

The cadejo were only a quarter of the room away and gaining fast. Only seconds remained, but they couldn't give up now. They wouldn't give up now.

"We're almost there…"

They could almost feel the monsters' breath, only feet away.

"…LOOK!" Paco pointed to the door, which, while not open all the way, was open just enough for them to crawl or slide through. They leapt off the crank and made to run to freedom-

And then the cadejo were on them. Suddenly the only thing they could see was burnt, sulfuric fur, and the only thing they could hear were hooves and howls. They screamed, readying themselves for whatever terrible end was about to befall them… but oddly enough, they weren't being bitten. They weren't even being scratched. Instead, they were being shunted aside. With a great push they were tossed out of the rampaging pack and off to the side of the chamber, slamming into the floor with a thud.

Dazily looking up, they noticed each other at the same time, "Paco/Yade!" they shouted out at the same time, "you're alright." They gave each other a quick hug and confusedly looked back to the stampeding cadejo.

"What the heck are they doing?" Jade thought out loud, "I thought we were dog food for sure."

"I am not complaining," Paco said edgily, "but it looks like they wanted the door as much as we did!"

He was right, now that it was open, the cadejo were rushing the door in droves, dozens leaving per second. There was no way to get anywhere near it - there were so many of them filtering through – and in their determination the beasts had apparently completely forgotten about their two former targets.

"It's odd…" Jade put her hand to her chin and mused, "where do they have to go anyway?"

"Well, I guess that door leads to the rest of the temple."

"But there isn't much else in here, right? Just that freaky glowy thing and… oh no…" The two gasped and stared at each other in shock, each realizing the same thing at the same time.

"UNCLE JACKIE!" "EL TORO!"

* * *

><p><em>- Meanwhile -<em>

The secret exit to the booby-trapped, rope filled hallway led to seemingly nowhere. Or, to be precise, it led to a lot of tedious, identical looking corridors which, themselves, led to more identical looking corridors which, naturally, led seemingly nowhere. It didn't even feel like they were going deeper into the temple, just that their position was getting shuffled around as they went up stairs, down stairs, left and right. Typical, really.

"Oh, what I wouldn't give for a GPS," Jackie joked as they walked through the threshold of yet another dimly lit hall.

"Have heart, mi amigo," El Toro said wearily, "at least there are no deadly traps to worry about here." They both froze, looking around in a panic as if those very words might have brought down the mother lode of traps right down on their heads. To their immense relief, nothing stirred.

Jackie sighed, "don't _do_ that!"

"Sorry."

"Ugh!" Jackie groaned. He looked around at their latest hallway and tried to gauge where they were, "it's like we are going around in circles! Where is this leading us?"

"Perhaps to some greater danger," El Toro mused.

"Or perhaps this _is_ the trap, leading us back and forth without going anywhere," Jackie returned.

"Should we turn back?"

Jackie thought for a moment. "No," he finally said, "the only thing we _do_ know is that what's behind us _is_ dangerous." He looked around wearily. "These halls must lead _somewhere_ we can't find. The only real option we have if we want to get this done is to keep looking."

"Si," El Toro agreed, "You are right. And maybe we can-"

"Look!" Jackie cut him off, pointing at a spot on the wall some ways ahead of them, which seemed off model to the rest. He ran over to investigate. "There are edges on this part of the wall, and you can see something on the other side! This is a false wall. It must be the way out!"

"Wonderful!" El Toro shouted, hurrying to join Jackie by the secret passage.

"It looks like we'll need to find some secret switch, or push it aside or something…" Jackie said, not moving his eyes from his inspection of the odd door.

"Well, we might as well try pushing it, my friend," El Toro suggested, stretching his muscles to get ready.

Jackie nodded. "On the count of three," together they pressed up again the wall, preparing to shove it with all their collective might. "One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

"Go!"

Moving together at once, the two heroes used all their strength to try to move the stone door. At the same, the door independently slid to the side, sending the two, with all their momentum, flying past the threshold and onto the ground on the other side in a heap.

"Ow…" Jackie groaned. He looked up from the ground and immediately scooted back: the two had landed inches away from a cliff of some sort. "Wow… big fall," El Toro moved back as well.

"How coincidental that the door would just open for us." El Toro thought out loud, "I wonder…"

Jackie was not listening, he was more concerned with trying to figure out what kind of place they had found themselves in. It was an absolutely enormous room – looking like some sort of hugely wide, infinitely deep well. There were stairs ringing around the walls, but they only extended so far down – he could not see the bottom, and wasn't entirely sure there even was one. The entire room was as wide as two, maybe three football fields were long, maybe even more, and in the middle, there was a tall but thin platform floating suspended by various bridges a long distance above them, and on top of that… "Look!" With another gasp, he gestured for El Toro to follow his gaze. There, resting on the platform, was the source of the glow they had been following all night. They had found the gem.

"Quickly!" Jackie shouted, heading towards the nearest stair – they had entered on one of the many criss-crossing, oddly suspended platforms and bridges all around the room. He walked determinedly, focusing only on his destination and not noticing that the small part of the platform they landed on was paved, while most of the others were not, or that when his foot touched the rest of the path it was not as stable as his previous location was. El Toro, however, did.

"Careful!" he yelled, yanking his friend out of the air just before the floor fell out from under his feet. Neither of them spoke for a moment, staring nervously at the gap in the bridge. "It seems as though the whole area here is unstable," El Toro said after a few seconds.

"But… this is crazy! How are we supposed to get up there?"

"Run very fast?"

"That… should be a last resort," Jackie said shakily. Actually, it was looking more and more like that was their only option. "First, we ought to-"

**BRUMM**

Whatever he was about to suggest was cut off by a very loud rumbling. Floored, the two heroes looked around the room for the source – or, as it turned out, sources: in several places around the chamber, secret passages like the one they had just come through were opening up… and the sounds of snarls and scrapes could be heard coming closer and closer from inside them.

Always a bad sign.

"Oh… this cannot be good," Jackie breathed slowly, waiting for whatever was about to enter the equation to do so on bated breath. He was not left waiting for long. With the sound of bloodcurdling snarl a large, wolflike monster of a kind he had never seen before strode from one of the doorways, with hooves like a goat but teeth like daggers. He heart El Toro gasp in recognition, but Jackie remained silently horrified as more monsters started to appear from doorways all over the chamber. They stared down at the two adventurers, murderous intent in their eyes, and with fearful speed they pounced – sprinting around the walls, across the bridges and over the stairs, more and more spilling out of the several entrances like a terrible flood, all affixed on their two targets.

Mostly thinking about how typical this was, Jackie turned to his companion, oddly casual for someone so terrified.

"So… run fast?"

"_Very_ fast, mi amigo."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Writer's Apathy<strong>,** the annoying cousin of Writer's Block, kind of hit me hard these past few weeks. Took me forever to just get myself working on this. This chapter and the one that will come after is were meant to be one big finale, but I figured I've spend enough time not uploading for me to spend more time making this twice as long... sorry again.**

**Also, for some annoying reason one of the horizontal lines refuses to show themselves... man those things are finicky.  
><strong>


	6. Chapter 6

***Wince* Sorry about the wait. Distractions.**

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing about Jackie Chan Adventures.**

* * *

><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

"What have we done?"

Paco was not taking this turn of events well. "They will surely be ripped to shreds, and it will all be our fault, how could we-"

"Not now!" Jade snapped, grabbing his arm, "right now we need to think of a way out of here so we can help them _not_ be ripped to shreds."

His resolve strengthened by her (relatively painful) hold, Paco calmed down. "You are right. But how will we escape?"

Even if they were foolhardy enough try to escape via the same passage that the mob of vicious monsters had just gone through, there was no way to get out that way – a group of the cadejo had stayed behind to guard the entrance, and there was something very uninviting about the unpleasant leer they were giving the two. There was definitely no escape that way.

Jade rubbed her chin, trying to think. If there's one thing she had learned adventuring with her Uncle over the years, it's that there's always a way. There had to be a way out of the room somewhere, if they could find it…

Or maybe they didn't have to think specifically of an exit… maybe they already had found it!

"The ceiling!" she shouted in triumph, leaving Paco confused.

"What?"

"The ceiling! Don't you get it? We can leave the way we came!" she explained, near giddy with excitement.

Paco looked up at the roof, particularly the long, shaky looking vine that was their only way up to the adjacent hole to the one they fell through, the set of raised platforms that looked a lot higher now that they were on the floor, and then looked down at snarling cadejo that were currently looking at them with a lot more attentively. "Oh yes… it sounds so simple."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "What, you can't you can't handle climbing a rope?"

"I am more concerned with outrunning the monstrous beasts who sooner would take a chunk out of our hides than look at us."

"Oh come on, haven't you gone toe to toe with a Chupacabra?" she smirked,

"That was different-"

"Oh wait, then again, that was Uncle Jackie wasn't it? You hid behind a table, if I remember correctly." She gave him a teasing look.

Paco scowled. "I was ten!"

"And don't you wanna prove you're not a scaredycat anymore?"

"I am no scaredycat! I just think we should be cautious, you can't just dive into things without-"

"Great! Then cover me!" With that, she took off towards the platforms with Paco, surprised but quick on the uptake, quickly following one step behind.

"Yade, just wait a minu- oh, forget it. Fine," he grumbled resignedly and quickened his pace to keep up with her.

Jade smiled as she heard him running behind her, but only slightly. To be honest, she was terrified as well. She knew Paco had a point, and in any other situation – well, most other situations - she might have agreed with him, but she feared Jackie and El Toro were running out of time, and they couldn't afford to spend any of their time being careful. Not when she felt so much that she needed to do… something, anything. That's the way it always was with her.

She let her worry drive her as she leapt onto the edge of the lowest platform and pulled herself up, Paco grabbing on right beside her a moment later. And a moment after that, they both turned with a snap as they heard a familiar growl behind them. The cadejo guarding the door, who were watching them closely, seemed to have figured out what they were up to and were now tearing off towards them.

The two young heroes turned tail and continued to climb up as fast as they could – there were seven cadejo on their tail, and this time they were all attacking at once: had no reason to hold back, and their moves looked that much more vicious.

Doubling their pace, Paco and Jade, scaled platform after platform, trying to put as much space between them and their pursuit. As they approached the halfway mark Paco stopped to check behind them, and to his horror saw the cadejo leap into the air impossibly high and land in one bound safely onto the lowest platform without slowing down at all.

He gulped, "Oy… que mal dia…"

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Jackie and El Toro were in a heated chase of their own. The cadejo were cutting them off at every turn, and with the ground crumbling away with every step they were running out of options.<p>

"This is getting worse by the minute!" Jackie said as they yet again had to leap to another platform (which, naturally, starting falling apart the moment they touched it) to avoid another group of growling beasts, "at this rate, we won't be able to keep ourselves alive let alone get that gem!"

El Toro stayed determined, but he knew Jackie had a point – there was only one direct path up to the top of the chamber left now: stairs ringing around the edge of the room that were broken yet still traversable. The bad news was, the cadejo were keeping guard of it, and there were too many for them to have any hope of getting through – but still, it was their last chance.

Jackie looked pensive as he weighed their options. If they failed, it could mean the end of everyone they cared about. There was no way he would let that happen. "There is nothing for it – El Toro, you back me up. I will try to make it up the stairs."

"What? But… no I cannot-"

"El Toro!" Jackie cut him off, "you are strong, my friend, but you know that I'm faster and more agile – I might be able to dodge them long enough to make it to the top!"

"…very well," El Toro said solemnly, as the two stopped on a stable platform at the other end of the chamber, the cadejo behind but far enough away that they could talk for a few moments. "I will attempt to distract them, but you will still have many of the beasts on your tail, you know."

"I know…"

"Do try not to die, _mi amigo._"

Jackie nodded with a grim smile, turned and readied himself, then sprang into action. Pushing off into a quick sprint, he vaulted over the head of the nearest cadejo and kept running past them towards the opposite edge of the chamber. The beasts turned to follow him, only to be barreled over the sides of the platform from behind by El Toro's bull charge. The remaining cadejo looked confused as to which hero to focus on – the quick one currently leaping over gaps in the crumbling bridges and diving for higher levels, or the burly one barreling through their numbers.

Deciding El Toro was the greater threat, most of the cadejo focused on stopping him… just as they planned. Jackie waited until a decent number of the beasts were running towards his companion, and then dove over the side of the bridge he was currently running over and grabbed onto the side, effectively making himself invisible to the cadejo's view.

He shimmied across the edge quickly, as the bridge was still falling apart with every move he made. Meanwhile, El Toro had his hands full – literally. He was swarmed by the biting, roaring cadejo, but he knew better than to let them sink their teeth into him. He dodged, he rolled, he dove, and when the time was right he would grab one or two and toss them over the side, but there just seemed to be too many. Hopefully Jackie would get what he had to do done soon – he couldn't keep this up for long.

* * *

><p>Paco and Jade made it to the vine soon enough, with the cadejo thankfully still behind them but closing fast. Unfortunately, making it to the vine and climbing it straight up to the very high ceiling were two very different things.<p>

"Come on, Paco!" Jade grunted as they wearily hit the halfway point. "Feel the burn! You can do go faster than that."

Paco scowled – he was, after all, right behind her. "Hmph, may I remind you which one of us is constantly complaining about her so-called 'torturous gym class?'"

"That's because that stuff isn't exciting. I just can't get into the exercise zone if I don't have any excitement behind it."

"Riiight," Paco smirked cheekily, "you know, I'm surprised you wanted to go first, Yade. Usually when I rescue damsels they prefer to let me lead the way."

Jade grinned, though Paco didn't see it – she was glad to have some of his bragging and teasing to lighten to mood. Still, she put on her best "tough" voice. "Let's get three things straight, Don Quixote! One: I'm nobody's damsel, and don't you forget it. Two: you can count yourself _very lucky_ I'm not the type to wear dresses, and if you _are_ staring at _anything_ back there you're gonna be in big trouble, and three- wait… who's tugging on the rope?"

"Huh?" The two teens turned down and saw the cadejo had finally reached the bottom of the vine. At first, the just sunk their claws onto it and pulled, which didn't do much. Then, they jumped onto it one at a time, as though testing it's strength. And then, to their horror, they starting leaping onto the vine en masse and bounding up towards them as fast as if they were running.

"They can _climb? _That's so not fair!"

"Go go go!"

On the double they sped up their climbing as fast as they could, but no matter what the cadejo were still gaining at a frightful pace. They tried not to turn back, just in case the fear of what was heading their way made them freeze, but they could still feel the monsters' nerve-wracking approach through the vine – the only saving grace was that not all of them were able to hang onto the vine, only four of them were following them.

But bit by bit, those four cadejo closed the distance, and bit by bit the two young adventurers got closer and closer to the top – if they could just make it, they could cut the rope and finally get away. The thought spurred them on, with a healthy dose of fear and anxiety, but still it got them to where they needed to go.

Finally they made it: the top was right above them, and from the light below they could see the opening led narrow tunnel like the one that got them into this mess. Just a few more feet of climbing and they would be-

"GRAAAAARGH!"

Or not. The cadejo were right behind them – having not turned to check, they had been completely blindsided. Their pursuers were so close they could see their furious red eyes and smell their incredibly unpleasant breath, and it was far too late to speed up now.

With only a moment's thought Paco turned himself on the vine and started kicked at the snapping beasts. "Go on, Yade!" he yelled upward, "I will take care of these dogs! Get to the tunnel!"

"What are you-"

"Go! I'll be fine!" A well placed kick sent the lead cadejo flying off the vine. One down. _Whew._ He didn't look up to see if Jade had done as he asked, but he hoped she had.

_These drooling fiends will have to go through me! And won't let that happen._ The next cadejo down propelled itself up and jumped up to snap at his face – he managed to grab it off of him and throw it down. It fell a few yards before grabbing it's claws onto the vine against coming back up.

He winced as the next cadejo came to take the last one's place almost faster than he could recover. They were just too fast. _Darn!_ _I can't… no, I won't give up._

The next cadejo repeated the actions of the one before it, jumping on onto him trying to bite his face. Once again he moved to try to catch it and flung it off to the side (too far for it to grab back on, thankfully), but in that moment of distraction he was hit with the real attack. Another one bounded up the vine and sunk its sharp teeth into deep into his upper leg as he was focusing on its friend.

The excruciating pain hit him right away. He instinctively tried to shake it off, which only made things worse, but he wasn't thinking clearly. He vaguely heard some kind of scream from above him, but couldn't quite focus on it. He suddenly couldn't hold onto the vine any longer, and he was struck with an insane thought: _can't hold on… maybe if I fall just right I can take them down with me…_

He heard another faded shout from above him, but he didn't think much of it as his handhold slipped…

* * *

><p>Jackie shuffled across the unstable bridge as fast as he could – not only did he not want to fall to his doom (an unfortunate way to end the day to be sure), but he didn't want El Toro dealing with those monsters any longer than he had to. Biding his time until a decent amount of the cadejo were away from his position, he inched closer and closer to the stairwell above him until he was right next to it, thankfully still undetected. Then, quick as a whip, he sprang into action, leaping up off the edge and hitting the ground running.<p>

He knew that by reaching the stairs he would draw the cadejo's attention fast, but hopefully they were far mostly far enough behind him that it wouldn't matter. Luckily, he was right – he heard surprised growls behind him but nothing caught up with him. Sprinting faster than he could remember doing for a long time, he made it far along the path in minutes. Soon he could see the gem they were looking for – standing on top of a small stand glowing ever brighter. A few more stairs and it would be a straight shot to the altar.

Unfortunately, he overlooked a few things. He screeched to a halt as two particularly vicious cadejo leaped in front of him from the wall – apparently they had stayed near the top just in case one of them tried something. He inched backwards, trying to think of a way past them, but his momentary surprise doomed him, giving the group of cadejo pursuing him from behind a chance to catch up. All of a sudden, he was surrounded by almost a dozen of the beasts. They all pounced at him at once, ready to tear him apart. He dove aside instinctively, but in his panic forgot how narrow the staircase was: there wasn't enough space to avoid them all and keep his footing – something had to give.

And so it did.

"Jackie!" El Toro yelled out as he watched Jackie lose his footing, tip over and fall several what must have been several stories, landing with an unsettling thud on a platform near the bottom of the spire. El Toro sighed with a mix of worry and relief: painful as it looked, it was lucky he landed there and not into the seemingly bottomless pit that the entire structure was suspended in, though he was still clearly unconscious and likely severely injured. Luckily, the bottom platform wasn't crumbling – at least he was safe for the moment.

El Toro, on the other hand, was not so safe. Now that Jackie was apparently out of commission, the cadejo turned their attention to him, but El Toro didn't care. There was no recourse, he had to help his friend. Without a second throught, he leapt from his platform all the way down to the bottom, landing with a bone-wracking impact on the stone floor.

It took him several moments to recover, but if there was anything El Toro prided himself on, it was his strength. After most of the strain of the impact had left him, he checked on Jackie – he was unconscious but, barring something else terrible happening (highly likely at this point), he would pull through. Unfortunately, there was no easy way out of this: everything, the cadejo, the gem, the platforms and the stairs, all of it was far above them, and the ways up had long since crumbled away.

Not that it mattered, as after Jackie's failed attempt at using them the stairs leading up to the altar had begun to crumble as well. There was no using them to get there. No, now there was only one way up, and it wouldn't be easy.

With determined resolve, El Toro put Jackie over his shoulder, grabbed the stone of the spire, and started to climb.

* * *

><p>Paco's hand seemed to fall off the vine in slow motion, not that it mattered to him. All he could think about was taking the remaining cadejo down with him. In a daze, he turned himself in the air just enough that once he fell completely he would collide into them<p>

_Let's see how those beasts like this._ He thought absently, as if his mind was suffering from a thick fog. _Not a bad way to go out… all the cadejo will be gone, and Jade will be…_

_Jade will be…_

_JADE!_

His mind cleared a bit as he recognized the girl who had slid down the vine and caught him just in the nick of time. Hanging onto him with one arm and the vine with another, she struck both of the remaining cadejo with a quick scissor kick, knocking them both off the vine onto the ground far below. Though struggling to keep her balance with Paco's weight, she managed to get them both up to the relative safety of the tunnel above. As soon as she laid him down safe on the floor on the passageway she turned and cut through the vine with a swiss army knife she kept in her pocket, ensuring that the cadejo would not be following them.

Now that they were (probably) safe, she allowed herself to relax. And vent her frustration at her jerk of a friend who nearly got himself killed.

"You moron!" She swatted him on the head, Uncle style. "What were you doing?"

Paco grinned widely. It might have been unsettling if she weren't so annoyed. "Just making sure you were safe," he said bluntly – much more blunt that he usually was.

"Don't even try to pull that chivalry stuff with me! I can take care of myself! Didn't I tell you I was nobody's damsel?"

"Sorry. Heh." He kept grinning, but she barely noticed. Luckily, this tunnel wasn't quite as tiny as the last one – she could climb over him in order to lead the way, since "Haha! Don't mind me and my bleedling leg, I'm a-ok! Hehehehe!"

Jade turned confusedly. That wasn't sarcasm, there was something about all this he actually found amusing. "Hey, let me in on the joke, will ya? What's so funny?"

Paco froze, and for a second he looked like his normal self. "I don't know… I… hehehe – no idea! Hehe!" The moment of normalcy was gone just as soon as it happened, and just like that he was back to laughing up a storm.

"You're acting weird… weirder than usual even. Maybe you should just follow me."

"Follow you where? This tunnel is so twisty and turny, we could be going anywhere. _Retrocedo,_ even. Hehe…"

Her eyes widened. "What are you talking about? This thing's a straight line! Are you all right?"

Paco calmed down very briefly – it was creepy, he looked a mix between happy and terrified. "You know, the legends say the bite of the cadejo can do many things, even make a man mad… hehe… maybe I am messed up in the _cabeza_. Hah! What a thought, hehehe…"

"Just perfect," Jade scowled, her voice halfway between worried and annoyed, "now I have to deal with you possibly going crazy above all things. Just try to follow me anyways."

"Yes, oh mighty Jade one, mistress of the universe," Paco cackled behind her. Jade rolled her eyes – hopefully this would be over soon.

Fortunately, her hopes were soon to be answerd.

* * *

><p>Climbing a sheer cliff is already a difficult task – doing so with a person on your back is downright impossible for most people. Luckily, El Toro Fuerte is not like most people, and this wasn't the worst test of strength he had ever gone through.<p>

Now that time he had to derail a train full of bandits with his bare hands, that was tough. But that's a story for another day.

Unfortunately, the cadejo seemed to have noticed – in the moments where he looked up above him he could see them waiting around the platforms, biding their time. An unsettling thought to be sure, but nothing he could afford to worry about; a final showdown with those beasts was inevitable.

Several arduous minutes later and he had made it halfway, and the cadejo were getting antsy. It wouldn't be long now.

"Hmph… if it's a fight they want, then they will not be disappointe- whoa!" His foot landed on an unstable rock and he slipped. In a panic he struggled to find a handhold, but in the commotion Jackie slipped off his shoulder and began to topple down. "No you don't, mi amigo!" El Toro yelled as he grabbed Jackie out of midair.

As El Toro lifted him back up, Jackie finally started to stir. "Huhwha? I… GAH! What happened?"

"You fell a great height, my friend," El Toro explained, "you are lucky to be alive."

"Ugh…" he groaned as the pain started to hit him, "I will feel this in the morning." He sighed. "This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?"

"For once I hate to agree with you, but look out!" El Toro nodded towards the platforms, where the cadejo were finally making their move. En masse they leapt onto the stone and crawled along the sheer cliff toward them. "Are you well enough to fight back, Jackie?"

"You focus on getting us to the top, I will try to hold them back" Jackie winced as he pulled himself into a better fighting position – one of his legs was busted, and he couldn't move his arms without an ache, but he was far from out of the game. Every time one of the cadejo came close, he kicked and punched and knocked it off of the cliffside, ignoring the pain.

Well, not entirely.

"Yeeow!" he yelled after a particularly painful swing, "How many of these things are there?"

"Stay strong, we are almost at the top! I-"

"Wait… what is that!" Jackie said, pointing upwards. Above them, above the cadejo, even above the spire and the altar, a spot on the wall was moving! Everyone, even the surrounding cadejo, seemed to freeze as it slid to the side slowly, revealing…

"JADE!"

"PACO!"

There they were: alive, well – sort of – and _not_ staying outside away from danger, Jackie noted with a scowl. Still, they looked all right. Jade even waved, though Paco was grinning oddly for reasons Jackie couldn't tell.

El Toro murmured so they wouldn't hear, "we must get to the top quickly before they do something rash."

Jackie waved weakly at his niece, but murmured back, "I agree."

Luckily, the cadejo were still trying to decide what to do – Jackie and El Toro took the moment to sweep at them and knock most of them down to the bottom of the spire. It was a far way down, but they would be back. Time to move.

Especially since if his eyes deceived him Jade had just jumped.

* * *

><p>"There they are!" Jade grinned and waved at her uncle. Paco laughed, but this time it was real and normal.<p>

"Finally. I knew they would make it," he said, though he sighed in relief all the same before descending back into giggles.

"Whoa, they did a number on this place," Jade said, looking around the crumbling chamber. "Waitaminute, why is El Toro carrying Uncle Jackie! He ca

"Hehe, clearly El Toro had to bail him out! After all, heh, he is like a teeeeeny tiiiiny mousey… hehehe," his head lolled back and forth like he was drunk.

Jade bit back a "look who's talking" remark, remembering that Paco wasn't quite himself. _Man, I hope there's a cure for this…_ "No… look! Uncle Jackie's hurt! And they're swarmed with those things. We've got to find a way down there and help!"

"Well…" Paco suddenly grabbed Jade around her waist and moved to the edge of the wall. "As you like to say, GERONIMO!"

And then he jumped.

Jade shrieked and closed her eyes (not that she would admit that later), didn't care how brain-addled he was at the moment, she was going to kill him.

Uncle Jackie called her name from below, and she saw El Toro take a moment to slap his hand over his forehead. Man, was this a reversal. It wasn't her fault this time: this time she was the one getting dragged along kicking and screaming (though again, she would deny the actual screaming later on), while Paco was laughing like a maniac.

It took her a few seconds before she noticed she wasn't falling any more. She stopped screaming and opened her eyes to the view of Paco smirking at her. She resisted the overwhelming urge to wring his neck and instead pushed him aside to help Jackie and El Toro up.

"What were you thinking?" Jackie shouted as soon as El Toro handed him up to his niece, "you could have been- agh!" He winced as he tried standing on his busted leg. Jade hurried to hold him up.

"Don't look at me! It wasn't my idea!"

"Paco?" El Toro said, as the boy helped him up over the edge – while singing "I Believe I Can Fly" at the top of his lungs. He looked more wacky than ever, and gave his bewildered guardian a low bow.

"He got bit by one of those things," Jade explained.

All the color drained from El Toro's face. "He _what?_ But… he…"

"It's not that bad!" Jade said quickly, "he just got the giggles. It's weird, but from what he told me it could have been a lot worse."

"Really? Yes… it should have…" El Toro rubbed his chin – as the legends went, when someone was bitten by a cadejo they always became incurably insane, with their minds totally shot. Paco's giddiness was… distressing… but not as bad as it should have been. Something didn't add up.

"So this is that gem we were supposed to find?" Jade inspected the stone on the simple altar. "Should we… I dunno, take it?" Paco reached for it dazedly, El Toro held him back.

"I'm not sure," Jackie said. "But I- oh no…"

The cadejo were back, and madder than ever. This time, they were not attacking one at a time, or in a straight line, or anything that could give them a chance. They crawled over the edge from every direction, snarling and spitting and advancing slowly.

But despite doom literally walking right up to them, the four adventurers stood together in a circle, unwilling to give up now. Jade and El Toro powered on through their weariness, and faced the cadejo with all the tenacity they had (which was quite a bit). Jackie shrugged off Jade from holding him up, and went into a fighting stance, ignoring the pain that came with it – no time to let it stop him now. Paco, still under the cadejo's spell, grinned and laughed, but there was determination in his eyes.

Still, despite their resolve, there was no way to win this fight. There had to be something else…

"Whatever we're going to do…" Jade started shakily, and in the same moment all four glanced back at the same thing, and had the same idea.

The cadejo inched closer – they could see the rusty tinge of their teeth.

"… we'd better do it fast!" In one motion all four of them leapt at the altar, grabbed the gem, and pulled.

The cadejo pounced.

The stone was rooted deep in the altar, but felt like it was budging just enough…

The cadejo were a few feet away.

It moved just a little bit more.

Inches away from dagger-fanged death.

Almost there…

And…

There was an enormous flash of light.

* * *

><p>Jackie picked himself up off the ground with a groan, and saw out of the corner of his eyes that the others were doing the same. Whatever just happened, it was big. He looked around – none of the others were hurt, and now that he thought about it, neither was he. His injuries didn't hurt anymore!<p>

He patted himself down, noting that his ribs didn't ache when he moved and definitely didn't twinge when he touched them, and when he picked himself up in a kneel to test it's weight, his leg didn't bother him at all.

Looking down, he noticed that the gem resting on the ground next to him. "Amazing…" he said to himself as he picked it up and inspected it. It wasn't shining with ethereal light anymore, but there was still a hint of a faint glow.

Tearing himself away from the stone, he looked around to see the others in a similar state to himself – none of them looked any worse for the wear. Jade and El Toro both looked completely rejuvenated as they dusted themselves off, and it looked like Paco was no longer under the cadejo's spell.

He and the rest of them looked around an goggled – the cadejo were still surrounding them, but instead of viciously growling and hissing they were sitting peacefully, not attacking but looking calm and serene, even pleasant.

"_**YOU HAVE DONE WELL, TRAVELLERS."**_

All four heads snapped up at the sound of the strange voice calling out to them from above, to see a strangest sight yet. A whispy, transparent figure floated above them, clothed in a long flowing cloak and a light, feathered robe and headdress. He looked extremely pleased.

"_**IT HAS BEEN SO LONG, I FEARED IT WAS TOO LATE, BUT YOUR PERSEVERENCE WON OUT IN THE END."**_

"W-what do you mean?" Jade stammered

"_**THE TEST, WORTHY ONES. THE TEST! YOU HAVE PROVEN YOUR WORTH, THE FIRST IN MANY, MANY LONG YEARS..."**_

"Wait, so you're saying this, all of this, was a test?" Paco asked.

"_**INDEED. I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THIS ARTIFACT – MY NAME DOES NOT MATTER – LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR ONE WHO COULD CLAIM IT. MY PETS AND I HAVE TESTED SO MANY…"**_

He waved his hand, and the cadejo began to change – their burnt fur lightened to a bright, light gray. Their vicious fangs and claws receded, and their vicious glares gave way to noble, serene faces.

"Of course!" El Toro said, "these are not evil cadejo at all, but their good counterparts. That is why when Paco was bitten he did not become insane, they were never evil enough to do so!"

Paco flushed with embarrassment, but nodded – he was the only one there versed enough in the legends to know what El Toro was talking about.

"_**YOU ARE CORRECT, MASKED ONE. OVER THE YEARS WE HAVE DEALT WITH COUNTLESS VILLAINS AND SCOUNDRELS, THE WORST OF HUMANITY – GREEDY AND DRIVEN BUT LACKING IN TRUE COURAGE AND DETERMINATION. AS TIME PASSED THE GEM, POWERFUL AS IT IS, BECAME EVER MORE CORRUPTED BY THESE WORST SIDES. THANKS TO YOUR**_

"So we basically did what no one in hundreds of years could do?" Jade asked.

The figure smiled. _**"YES, YOU HAVE. YOU HAVE SHOWN PERSEVERENCE UNMATCHED BY ANY BEFORE YOU."**_

"Booyah! We bad!"

"So… what now?" Jackie cut in thoughtfully.

"_**NOW? NOW THE ARTIFACT IS IN YOUR CARE – YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELVES WORTHY TO PROTECT IT, AND I SHALL FINALLY MOVE ON TO MY FINAL DESTINATION. THANK YOU, WORTHY ONES… TAKE GOOD CARE OF THAT FRAGMENT, TRAVELLERS, AND MAY YOU HAVE LUCK WITH THE OTHERS…"**_

"Wait… what? Others? What are you- wait, don't go!" Jackie stuttered, but it was too late. The guardian faded away in a wisp of smoke, and the cadejo leapt into the air and with a swirl disappeared with him.

There was a long silence.

"Well…" Paco quipped, "that was certainly something."

"Yeah…"

"That's for sure…"

There was another long silence."

"So…" Jade started, looking at the open space around the spire that one had been full of now crumbled platforms, "…how do we get down from here?"

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> And that's it! This is the last chapter, just the relatively short epilogue. That's partially why this chapter is relatively longer than most of the others, everything happens in quick succession here and I didn't like splitting it up at any given point.

Again, sorry about the wait, real life distractions and all that.


	7. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone but Mr. Gao.**

**Thanks for reading thus far!  
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><p><span>Epilogue<span>

It took around seven hours for Uncle to arrive by plane, check into the hotel and make his way up to the temple, with Jackie's help. Naturally, the flight left him crabbier than usual, and his wasn't helped much by the environment. This was not particularly fun for anyone (or, as Uncle put it: "you bring me to stifling rainforest then expect me to take a walk through dusty, twisty tunnels! This is veeeery bad for my age – you want Uncle to get lung disease?" *WHACK*)

But now, Uncle was putting all of his attention into deciphering the symbols and writing around the temple, from glyphs around the altar to the vast writing and paintings in the chamber Jade and Paco had fallen into.

Insistent that they would only get in the way, Uncle had forced everyone but Jackie to wait outside the temple, on pain of his wrath – which was enough to get everyone out, even Jade, without much fuss. So they set up a picnic, having taken the time until Uncle arrived to get some food and a folding table, and waited outside for two hours until Uncle finally resurfaced carrying a book full of notes and symbols he copied down, Jackie right behind him carrying an armful of tablets and objects from inside the temple.

Uncle was uncharacteristically silent, and pale besides. "Uh… Uncle? What's wrong? What did you find in there?" Jade prodded.

"Yes, Uncle," Jackie said, sounding even more in the dark than they were, "what is it? Why am I carrying all of this? What do the inscriptions say."

"_Quieeet!_" Uncle yelled. He went to the table and sat down and gestured for the others to do the same, though he didn't speak again for several more seconds. "It is… unbelievable."

His words caught everyone's attention, and they all leaned in (except Jackie, who was the only one without a chair). It wasn't every day Uncle found something that stunned him to near silence.

"It is an old chi legend," Uncle started in the ominous voice he used for the gravest of situations. "No… no legend. Less than that. A story. A myth. Never would I have thought it to be true…"

"What?" Paco said, barely able to take the suspense. El Toro didn't even bother to chide his manners – he was on the edge of his seat as well.

Uncle opened his book of notes, and began again. "They say thousands of years ago, before chi wizards of China, before Shendu, perhaps even before Tarakudo, a great evil spread across the world."

"What kind of evil? What was it?"

"It is not important! Only important is what this evil led to. They say as this darkness reached it's peak, a group of early chi warriors from across the world banded together to oppose it, only to fail. All seemed lost, until a mighty chi wizard pure of heart arose, using powers unmatched to destroy the evil, once and for all." He pointed to a figure in a drawing Jade and Paco recognized as from the art in the chamber they fell into.

"Whoa!" Jade said, "that must've been some wizard."

Uncle glared at her. "Do not interrupt!" Jade drew back. "But, yes. The greatest chi wizard of all time, as the stories say. Unfortunately, the strain from destroying the evil was too great, and he soon began to die. But before fading away, he split his power into seven pieces," he pointed at the drawing again, noting six branches splitting off from a main whole. "He gave each of the pieces to one of his colleagues, who pledged to keep each safe and returned to their homelands, each founding one of the different fundamental schools of chi magic in turn."

"That is incredible," Jackie mused.

"_That is ridiculouuus!"_ Uncle screeched. Jackie winced. "Or so I thought, but this…" he held up the gem, which glowed very slightly.

"You mean to say that gem is a piece of that old wizard's power?" El Toro asked in shock.

"Do not interrupt!" El Toro winced. "That is what the temple says," Uncle sighed, "the gem holds one part of the master's power: the ability to sustain (or destroy) life." He gestured to the

"So… why'd the gem suddenly start going haywire and the temple turn into deathtrap central?" Jade asked.

"As the writing says, the other masters sought to prevent those unworthy to hold the grandmaster's power from obtaining it. Each piece was protected to test all potentials, a protection imbued with the characteristic of the grandmaster that disciple found most important. In this case: perseverance and dedication." The others all straightened up with pride – Jade even crossed her arms, and Paco puffed out his chest. "But the masters worried the power would become corrupted by evil minds. As time passed, the power in the gem darkened by influence of thieves and evil… and when the test was triggered last, it became a force for destruction."

"So… if we had gotten the gem before passing the test…"

"It may have remained twisted. Wrong. Dangerous…" his eyes flashed, "only a show of the characteristic the power represents can return it to it's former glory."

Paco puffed out his chest again. "Then I suppose it is a good thing we are all so steadfast!"

"DO NOT INTERRUPT!" Paco jumped back, nearly falling off his chair. "One more thing! There are seven pieces of the grandmaster's chi in total, all bound into reality. All require the characteristic they were bound with to be truly activated! Otherwise they may spiral out of control."

"Just one of these fragments was dangerous enough," Jackie noted grimly, "who knows what damage the others might do."

"One more thing! Each of the seven fragments contains a different power. Some may seem more destructive than others, but all are important."

"And let me guess…"

"One more thing! Each of the fragments is stored in a different location, all across the world…"

Jackie sighed deeply. "And here I thought we were done with this sort of thing."

"Alright!" Jade shouted. Her reaction was a complete opposite of her uncle's. "It's been years since we had one of these adventures! Time to save the world again!"

"Oh boy," Jackie looked downcast, but turned to El Toro. "Thank you again for your help El Toro… this looks like it's going to be a hassle, I would hate to get you wrapped up in it. But if we need you, I'll call."

"Not this time, mi amigo," El Toro said sternly, "This debacle began in Mexico, and it is our duty to see it through to the end, as we promised – we will join you in finding these "fragments" the whole way, through thick and thin."

Jackie gaped, torn between being gratified and politely declining his help. Jade, however, looked shrewdly at them, "so… wait. Does that mean you two are gonna be-"

"We will no doubt be joining you in San Fransisco!" Paco grinned. Jade scowled.

Uncle remained impassive. "I will have to research these tablets to find how to detect these chi fragments, but in the meantime this gem must be kept safe."

"No prob, Section 13 is always game to store some kind of magic doohickey – they've already got tons. We'll just get Captain Black to store 'em," Jade smiled at her uncle, "but I guess that means your Mr. Gao won't be getting his gem any time soon."

Jackie gasped and dropped the tablets (earning him a whack from Uncle), "MR. GAO! I FORGOT!"

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><p><em>Some time later, in the topmost floor of the high-rise Gao Tower - Tianjin, China.<em>

"So you see, Mr. Gao," said Jackie Chan's voice over speakerphone. "It looks like the first team you sent in may have accidentally blown an important wall, destroying a large section of the inside and burying themselves. It seems like the artifacts inside were lost for good. I am sorry."

Sitting in a chair at his expensive desk was a impassive looking middle-aged Chinese man, the grim look on his slightly wrinkled face (looking so wrinkled because of the grim looks it often held) only matched by the bitter look in his eyes. "Unfortunate, Mr. Chan. Very unfortunate," he said roughly, "but it could not be helped. I thank you for your time."

He closed the line and scowled, showing bare teeth. "That Chan…" he stood up and started pacing around his enormous office, which surrounded him on all sides with Imperial art and sculpture. "Even when he does not know he is interfering, he interferes!" His voice was like a soft growl, full of fury.

"Yes…" drawled his assistant, who was lurking next to his desk. "He has a knack for that sort of thing. It seems the gem is lost to us…"

"And the others?" Gao's head inclined back slightly as he waited for an answer.

"I have already set-up options for finding them," said his assistant, "you only need to approve them, sir."

"Excellent…" Gao turned towards the wall of windows at the other end of his office and stared down at the city below him. "This is not over yet, Mr. Chan. Not over at all…"

**End…**

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Well, that's that. The end... for now. Until the next episode, the first chapter of which I'll have already posted as you read this, probably.<strong>

**Looking back on this story, I think if I were to judge anything poorly it'd be that poem that the heroes run into halfway through. What was I thinking, oy... that and my action scenes, which need work. But then, that's why I'm doing this, eh?**

**Fun Fact: This story was originally going to be called the J2 Adventures and be about the events that led up to Jade joining Section 13 - partially explaining the timeskip - but I eventually scrapped that general idea.**

**_Next Time, On The Amazing Chan Adventures:_ Our heroes face monsters, chi wizards, and the danger of possibly losing a best friend to the forces of darkness. Can they stop the insidious team-up of Daolon Wong and the Deadpan Monk? Find out, on _Old Friends And Enemies!_  
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